Borys Filatov has won re-election as mayor of Dnipro, taking a supermajority of the vote in a runoff election against local businessman Zahid Krasnov.
According to City Council Secretary Oleksandr Sanzhara during a briefing on Nov. 23, Filatov took 80.61% of the vote in the Nov. 22 second round of the mayoral election. Earlier, after polls closed on Nov. 22, the center for social and marketing research Socis announced that, according to its exit poll, Filatov had received 78.75% of the vote, while Krasnov took only 18.25%.
On Nov. 23, after all the ballots were counted in Dnipro, a city of 1 million residents located 500 kilometers southeast of Kyiv, Sanzhara announced Filatov’s victory in the runoff. The regional politician will now begin his second consecutive term as mayor, a position he has held since 2015.
Filatov is known for his strained relations with President Volodymyr Zelensky. He has accused the central government of deliberately sabotaging Dnipro’s development to undermine his support ratings. He has also alleged that the president is “selling” his party’s regional branch to oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, Filatov’s opponent and former boss.
Read more: In Dnipro, mayor fights for re-election against Zelensky, Kolomoisky
During the Oct. 25 local elections, neither Filatov nor Krasnov won a majority of the vote. Filatov received 44% to Krasnov’s 14%.
In the city council race, Filatov’s Proposition, a party uniting several Ukrainian mayors, received 29% of the vote. The pro-Russian Opposition Platform – For Life took second place with 17%. Zelensky’s Servant of the People received 11%. Krasnov’s Hromadska Syla (“Civic Force”) received 9% of the vote.
Two more parties also made it into the Dnipro city council: European Solidarity with 8% of the vote and the party of pro-Russian ex-Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Vilkul with 6%.
Ukraine’s local elections have been a triumph for regional elites. Earlier on Nov. 23, incumbent Mayor Andriy Sadovyi won re-election in Lviv. Prior to that, in Kyiv and Kharkiv, the country’s two largest cities, mayors Vitali Klitschko and Hennady Kernes scored over 50% of the vote in the first round of the election and held onto their seats. In Odesa, Mayor Hennady Trukhanov won re-election in the Nov. 15 runoff.
